The Renal Training Program at the Massachusetts General Hospital is dedicated to the preparation of investigators committed to a career in basic and clinical biomedical research involving kidney function and disease. This program continues to build on its outstanding past experience in establishing productive and committed investigators. The major component of the program is the training of 5 postdoctoral fellows annually, who are involved in direct research participation in conjunction with a comprehensive program of didactic instruction and enrichment activities. In addition, a new request for 2 predoctoral fellows annually is proposed, based on the role of the Program Director, Dr. Ausiello, as the new Director of the M.D./Ph.D. Program at Harvard and M.I.T. and of the substantive experience o the core faculty in graduate education and training. An intensive experience in basic science or clinical outcomes and epidemiology is the common element of each trainee's experience. The majority of trainees will undertake a laboratory research experience in which emphasis is placed on the application of the tools of cell and molecular biology t renal research. Training is offered in several disciplines: Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Developmental Biology, Biophysics, Genetics, Virology and Immunology. These disciplines are applied to six research themes central to the current study of renal disease. For those trainees undertaking training in clinical investigation, a rigorous preparation in relative quantitative sciences, including biostatistics, epidemiology and outcomes research, is provided. Research training takes places in the existing laboratories (approximately 100,000 sq. ft) of the research mentors, a group of established investigators with extensive existing interactions at the MGH-Eas campus, or in core faculty laboratories of the Whitehead Institute (M.I.T.), Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital. Didactic educational programs include those offered through The Harvard Medical School, The Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University and M.I.T.